a friend of mine stopped over today and told me his van was in for a new flexplate. this is the 3rd one in 4 years. i told him the only thing i can think of that may cause so many failures would be an out of alignment of the trans to the engine. or they are not parrell. so the plate is always flexing back and forth.

they dealer said not bulletins on that. my friend was thinking the thrust bearing on the crank may be worn so the plate moves back and forth enough to cause that failure. it could be but most thrust bearings allow about .002 to .005 in thrust movement. but a misaligned transmission to the engine puts the flex plate at a 100% out of alignment and every revolution flexes the plate so much that failure will happen sooner than later.

so can anyne shed more light on this. i don't know the engine size and they all may be the same anyway but it is a v6 auto. thanks bp

 

Hi there,

Mine's not the same year (2005 here) but I changed the flexplate on mine last year, and mine had done 120,000miles on it and lasted this long on the original, so yes I'd be agreeing with you there that it isn't normal to go through them that quickly (And it'll have a high cost of labour for the job so not cheap!)

Agreed that the main influence on it must be incorrect alignment as very little else will have an impact on the flexplate in normal use.
Only other thing that pops into mind is if the engine has been modified/ECU changed/mapped that could be causing more force on it? Although I'd expect the gearbox/torque converter to suffer not the flexplate.

Would be interesting to get it to an independent to take a look as they might be able to look a bit closer. Don't suppose they kept the old/damaged flexplate previously as would be interesting to look at the stress patterns on it (I have mine and posted on my website the process and the state of my flexplate upon removal)

 

no they did not keep it. he just let them fix it. under warranty. the van is bone stock. this guy would not mod the van but he does own the hellcat so he gets his kicks out of that.

anyway it was making a noise and they tried to tell him it was the cat rattling. i told him it was not the cat. so then another mechanic drove it and discovered the flex plate. based in the type of noise. but they told him this flex plate failing is a normal thing i told him that is bs.

now i have seen them crack but then that has been one time in the car and they had so many miles it was a wonder they were still on the road. not a car with maybe 20k on it. and keep in mind this is the 4th time in 4 years.

you would think it this is a issue with this van they would have a tsb on it. but my friend told me the service advisor said no. but anyway if it happens again i told him to make them install a new trany as then if it happens after the new tranny then the engine is the problem and was not machined correctly. but the tranny is the easiest to change out. and i think would be the easiest to miss machine, not many alignment points on them during mfg. thanks bp.

 

I've had my van looked at by the dealer and two other mechanics. They told me it was a common issue once you hit 120,000 and best bet was to find a new vehicle which sucks. I which crysler would improve the part at least.

This photo is of the one just replaced only lasted 9 months there's something wrong with the plates not the engine I've never been in an accident in it

 

i still say the issues is the mating of the trans to the engine. i believe one or the other is not square to the other part. and i would say the trans as the engine has to many alignment points during mfg. to get off alignment, the cam bore the crank bore the cylinders etc. the trans has the bore and the porting which might all be in one machine pulse the facing off of the mating surface to the engine. and if they are not perfect you still can't tell by the axles as the cv joints accommodate that alignment issue.

i have had cars with 250k on them and still the original flex plate. in fact i have not heard of flex plate issues like this, only the ring gears on some wearing out. not to much on the plate cracking at the mount. on the crank. only a misalignment would cause this.

 

Ah that picture of the flexplate looks like what mine was like, that was 120,000miles approx on the clock, and it hadn't been replaced before on my vehicle.

This was my flexplate that I removed.



Looks very similar to yours, except yours only did a fraction of the time mine took. How many miles did you do in that 9 months?

(Full post on the work Andy Brown's blog: Chrysler Grand Voyager flexplate replacement )

I initially didn't think 120k miles was a problem for the plate, but I've not got much frame of reference when it comes to autobox cars and mileage.